A citation is an acknowledgement in your text of references that support your work. It is in the form of a number that correlates with a source in your reference list.
Before using this guide check with your faculty, school or department for their specific referencing guidelines
The way you cite information can be important depending on the emphasis you wish to apply:
If you wish to quote or paraphrase an author, and want to emphasize the author, then your citation becomes 'author prominent'. The citation will look something like this:
If you wish to emphasize the information you have paraphrased or quoted from an author, then your citation becomes 'information prominent'. The citation will look something like this:
In the Vancouver style, you assign a number to each reference within the text as you cite it. The citations are identified by Arabic numbers in superscript. The number must be used even if the author(s) is named in the text.
Example: In his study, Babbott11 found that….
New sources are numbered consecutively as they occur in the text. If a source is repeated, so is the number originally assigned to it.
When multiple references are cited at the same place in the text, use commas without spaces to separate non-inclusive numbers.
Example: Multiple studies have indicated….1,3,9,16
If multiple references cited at the same place in the text are inclusive, use a hyphen to join the first and last numbers.
Example: Multiple studies have indicated that….7-10
Placement of the citation numbers is generally at the end of the sentence, unless there are two individual sets of citations in each sentence. Generally reference numbers should be placed outside of periods and commas, inside of colons and semicolons.
One citation or one set of citations in one sentence:
The design of the FHS Daily Trial has been described previously.16
We assessed infarct size by cMRI, which strongly correlates with subsequent mortality.4,20,21
Two individual citations or more than one set of citations in one sentence:
There have been efforts to replace mouse inoculation testing with in vitro tests, such as enzyme linked immunosorbent assays57, 60 or polymerase chain reaction20-22, however these remain experimental.
Lack of reimbursement remains the single greatest obstacle to more widespread adoption of collaborative care,98 and we must continue to develop better funding mechanisms to capture its added value.99,100
Block Quotations:
Quotes longer than 4 lines should be indented in a block, without quotation marks and in reduced type.
For example:
With the increased need to store data and information generated by big projects, computational solutions, such as cloud-based computing, have emerged. Cloud computing is the only storage model that can provide the elastic scale needed for DNA sequencing, whose rate of technology advancement could now exceed Moore's Law. Moore's law is the observation that, over the history of computing hardware, the number of transistors on integrated circuits and the speed of computers doubles approximately every 2 years. Although cloud solutions from different companies have been used, several challenges remain, particularly related to the security and privacy of personal medical and scientific data.1
| After the author's name |
Johnson1 explains... OR Johnson (1) explains... Note: If mentioning authors in text, only surnames are used. For a reference with two authors include both surnames (family names). e.g. Avery and Williams1 highlight the importance… For references with three or more authors, list the first author then et al. e.g. Azar et al2 reported on this association… |
| To the right of commas and full stops | …is a widely accepted theory.3 OR …is a widely accepted theory.(3) |
| To the left of colons and semi colons | ...lists the following6: motivation... OR ...lists the following (6): motivation... |
Multiple sources can be inserted at a single point separated by a comma. Three or more consecutive citations are joined with a hyphen.
...is an issue faced by many in the industry.1,3,5-7
If citing different pages from a single source at different places in the text, page numbers can be included in the in-text citation and the source listed once in the reference list. Page numbers can be added for direct quotations if necessary (please check with your Lecturer).
...pain response should be considered.9(p83) OR ...pain response should be considered.(9 p83)
The in-text citation is placed immediately after the text which refers to the source being cited:
Using round brackets:
...as one author has put it "the darkest days were still ahead".(1)
Using square brackets:
...as one author has put it "the darkest days were still ahead".[1]
Using superscript:
...as one author has put it "the darkest days were still ahead".1
The author's name can also be integrated into the text
Scholtz 1 has argued that...
Including page numbers with in-text citations:
Page numbers are not usually included with the citation number. However should you wish to specify the page number of the source the page/s should be included in the following format:
...as one author has put it "the darkest days were still ahead".1(p23)
...as one author has put it "the darkest days were still ahead".(1 p23)
Scholtz (1 p16-18) has argued that...
Citing more than one reference at a time:
The preferred method is to list each reference number separated by a comma, or by a dash for a sequence of consecutive numbers. There should be no spaces between commas or dashes, for example: (1,5,6-8)